Cristina DIAC

Etudes balkaniques (Sofia) Issue 2017 N 4

Cristina DIAC, AN OBVIOUS NONSTARTER: THE POPULAR FRONT IN EASTERN EUROPENational Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, Romanian Academy

Abstract: Designed to confront serious problems, and to prevent their extension, the Popular Front policy adopted by Komintern in the mid 30’s payed the price for all the mistakes of the past. This article explores, in a comparative fashion, how the Eastern European communist parties behaved in the Popular Front era, what they managed to achieve and what they didn’t, and what caused that state of affairs. The analyze takes into consideration Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland, and explores the attitude of the communist parties from these countries towards the Versailles System, the „national problem“, social-democracy, fascism (as ideology and as political force). Besides all these issues, inherent to Eastern European communist parties, this articles discusses the way in which Komintern itself dealt with „the fascist menace“.

Keywords: Komintern, Popular Fronts, Eastern European Communist Movement, Fascism, Social-Democracy, The National Problem